


Sense8

by TheodoreR



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Sense8!AU, They're in the same cluster, and then they don't, and they hate it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-05-21 15:04:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14917619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheodoreR/pseuds/TheodoreR
Summary: [Liam suddenly finds himself telepathically connected to seven people. One of them is particularly annoying.]After rinsing his mouth several times to get rid of the awful liquorice taste of the toothpaste his roommate bought hoping he wouldn’t steal that too, Liam straightens to get a look of himself in the mirror. Except he can’t, because Theo is in it.He’s still brushing his teeth and he hasn’t noticed him and Liam takes a deep breath, trying to keep his anger under control. He can’t punch the mirror again, his roommate just replaced it after the last time.“Oh my god, not you again” He mutters under his breath, irritation stiffing his shoulders. “Just fuck off, please.”Theo barely glances at him, not even bothering to pull the toothbrush out of his mouth as he  replies. “You fuck off.”





	1. LIAM

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading and you never saw Sense8 : Shame. On. Your. Cow.  
> But there’s no actual plot here, besides what's in the summary, so you should be fine anyway, even with your guilty cow. (But seriously, go watch Sense8, we don’t have cookies but we have artistic orgies.)

 

 

Liam is still half asleep and the regular movement of his toothbrush, accompanied by the slow flow of water in his sink, doesn’t help. You’re not supposed to let the water run while you wash your teeth, Liam knows that, it’s a terrible waste and the korean samurai gave him a lecture on that the only time she visited him, but being a responsible human being requires strength and he used all his strength to get out of bed in time for his morning lessons, so the world will forgive him when every river will dry. Samurai girl won’t, she’s been very clear on that, but Liam hopes he won’t see her anytime soon. She’s fucking scary with that katana of hers. 

After rinsing his mouth several times to get rid of the awful liquorice taste of the toothpaste his roommate bought hoping he wouldn’t steal that too, Liam straightens to get a look of himself in the mirror. Except he can’t, because Theo is in it.

He’s still brushing his teeth and he hasn’t noticed him and Liam takes a deep breath, trying to keep his anger under control. He can’t punch the mirror again, his roommate just replaced it after the last time.

“Oh my _god_ , not you again” He mutters under his breath, irritation stiffing his shoulders. “Just fuck off, please.”

Theo barely glances at him, not even bothering to pull the toothbrush out of his mouth as he  replies. “You fuck off.”

 

It all started two weeks earlier.

Liam can’t say he had a perfect or peaceful life before, because he didn’t: college was exhausting, with all the books and the people constantly around him, he hated his roommate, always complaining about stuff, loudly singing in the shower is a crime now apparently, and he had just been diagnosed with I.E.D. which at first seemed like a good thing, a pretext to be finally allowed to be angry all the time, but then just revealed itself to be one more concern, with all the medicines to take at precise timetables and stuff.

That’s what he thought it was at first, his medicines for I.E.D. making him see things. That’s why he ignored Theo all day the first time he appeared in his kitchen out of nowhere, because you’re not supposed to talk with your hallucinations. It was the most reasonable thing to do, especially because Theo wasn’t being nice at all, all snob and stuff, criticizing his cooking abilities and his tiny, messy student house, and asking him why he was there and not in his nice apartment in London, like Liam had any idea. Liam was reasonable and logical, and not rude at all, whatever Theo may say, and yes, he did threw a plate at him to make him shut up, but he didn’t even hit him and still Theo took great offence on that and when Liam suddenly found himself visiting him a few days later, appearing in his gym, he didn’t even say hi. Liam just wanted to take a nap and instead he had to watch this annoying guy train people and lift weights for an hour straight, all sweaty and muscular, until his roommate woke him up complaining that he couldn’t have erections on the couch. Liam told him he was allowed to get turned on wherever he wanted and then he jerked off in the shower thinking about his weird dream, except when he stepped out the hallucination guy was there, an evident bulge on his sweatpants and an annoyed look on his face. Liam tried to ignore him again but he couldn’t this time, since the guy kept blaming all the people in the gym laughing and pointing at his pants on him, like Liam was accountable for other people getting excited at work. He defended himself and he managed to do it even with the annoying laughter of the blonde guy watching them both from the toilet and that was the day he stopped taking his medications.

His roommate went to the hospital with a broken nose the next day and Liam still kept having hallucinations, until one day the read-head girl saved his ass during a math test and that was it, Liam believed her explanation of telepathy and cluster and being a different species from humans because all of it seemed more reasonable than him being suddenly able to get an A in math.

Liam believed her, but he didn’t actually understood her, possibly because she didn’t seem so sure herself. Long story short, there are now seven people around the world mentally connected to Liam and to each other for mysterious reasons and if sometimes it’s useful, like that time when the Mason guy took over Liam’s body during a party and danced for him, impressing the hell out of everyone, most of the time it’s just annoying, because out of eight fucking people Liam always gets stuck with the same asshole from London. It’s not normal, Liam asked Mason about it and he said he never even saw Theo nor the blonde guy from Germany – Brett or something, Liam met him twice, both unpleasant experiences- and even with the others it’s always random, never a regular thing for Mason.

Liam doesn’t have this fortune: some days he sees some of the others, some days he doesn’t, but every single day of his life since two weeks he sees Theo. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes several times. It’s so fucking annoying, if it was Mason it would be okay, he’s his favourite, all nice and funny, even Lydia he wouldn’t mind, she’s so smart and she always has some new info to give, with all the researches she’s doing with her boyfriend, Allison wouldn’t be bad either, she could teach him how to use a bow and he could threaten his roommate with it, but no, out of everyone he’s haunted by the useless fuckboy of the group. He just works out all day and then he has sex with someone different every week and he wants Liam to watch him doing all that, just because he’s an attention seeker. He pretends he doesn’t, but Liam knows better. He can’t even sleep at night without feeling his bed suddenly squeaking because Theo is fucking someone right next to him. He’d wish him chlamydia, but Liam would end up suffering too, because, and this is the worst thing, Liam feels _everything_ that Theo feels. Not every single second, but as soon as something really bothers him, or concerns him or makes him happy, that’s it, Liam feels it too. Sometimes he actually appears right next to Theo or Theo comes to him, some other times he just suddenly feels incredibly happy or excited or sad for no reason at all and he knows it’s because Theo is. He _shouldn’t_ know it, because Lydia has been very clear on it, they’re eight and they’re all connected, and it could be anyone, but Liam knows it anyway, it’s Theo because it’s always him.

Just like it’s him now, starting bothering right away in the morning.

“Don’t tell me to fuck off, this is my bathroom and that’s my mirror. Can I _please_ look at my face now or do you have to be everywhere all the time, you self-centered dick?”

“I don’t know what you're complaining about” Theo shrugs, his voice muffled because of the brushing still going on in his mouth. So ill-mannered for a snobbish daddy’s boy. “My face is definitely a better morning view than yours.”   

It’s probably not an actual lie because Liam was never the best ray of sunshine in the morning, but Theo must have been up for several hours and that’s playing dirty, Liam would like to see how pretty his face looks at European six a.m., except he doesn’t actually, because he sees his face enough already. 

“That’s it, I’m talking to Lydia: I’ll get you thrown out of the custer” He decrees, putting his toothbrush back with excessive strength. 

“It’s _cluster_ , and you don’t  know how to visit people when you want, good luck talking to Lydia.”

When Liam slams the door, Theo’s voice disappears. Thank God he’s confined to the bathroom this time.

 

***

 

Finally the best moment of the day has come, the one that allows Liam not to kill people and stay out of prison: lunch. His morning was stressful and full of boring classes, but there’s now a double cheeseburger with fries and a coke in front of him and that somehow makes it worth it. Liam actually closes his eyes as he gives the first bite to enjoy better his heavenly break, only to be met with the flavourless, anonymous taste of salad. His life never stops to find new ways of sucking, does it.

Still, his therapist said he needs to have a positive attitude when he feels like getting angry, so he wisely decides it’s no big deal, maybe he just has to wash his mouth from the taste of the strawberry gum he chewed earlier. Or maybe having a positive attitude is only possible for people whose life is not a constant tragedy and his therapist can go fuck himself, and that’s the case, as Liam discovers when he takes a sip from his coke and finds out that it tastes like plan water. What the hell did he do now to deserve _water?_ Nobody deserves that.

Before he knows it, Liam is not in the cafeteria anymore.

“I fucking hate you!” He shouts and Theo jumps a little on his chair, his mouth full of what looks like chicken salad and a glass of stupid water near his plate. Of course it was Theo, it’s always him.

“Excuse me?” He asks perplexed after swallowing his mouthful of tasteless salad.

“Stop eating that!” Liam growls disgusted. He’s not going to survive this, he can’t face his days without his sacred, unhealthy lunch.

Theo raises his brows, slowly bringing the fork to his mouth. “Why should I stop eating my dinner?”

“Because your dinner sucks!”

Theo shrugs, filling his mouth again with evident satisfaction. “It’s actually pretty good, you know, it doesn’t even taste like salad.”

Liam frowns, a terrible doubt surfacing his mind. “What does it taste like?” He asks wary. He’s going to kill this guy, he’s _so_ going to kill him.

Theo grins, like he’s reading his mind. “Cheeseburger.”

Liam wants to call his therapist so badly now, see if he can find the bright side of this situation or if Liam is officially allowed to start throwing objects. He personally thinks he can and nobody could blame him, because it’s just not fair that the asshole here gets to be all healthy and still enjoy Liam’s delicious burger while Liam has to taste salad as he poisons himself with his now flavourless fast-food meal. The universe truly  is a terrible place to live in.

“Why are you even dining so late?” Liam mutters throwing a glance at the window. That’s it, be constructive and find a solution instead of throwing objects. “It’s dark outside, look, I bet you’re the only one in the entire country who’s still having dinner. But I’d appreciate it a lot if from now on you could eat your grass far from my meals, thank you very much.”

Theo glances at him unimpressed. “Yeah, well, maybe I enjoy the fact that my salad tastes like burgers and fries.”

“I clearly don’t” Liam mutters between his teeth, breathing deeply. Calm and diplomacy, that’s it, that’s the way.

“I’d suggest you go complain to someone who gives a fuck then” Theo concludes with a sweet, innocent smile and Liam actually tries to punch him.

What he manages to do is just overthrow his glass of coke on his shirt, drawing some looks and laughs in his direction in the cafeteria.

 

That evening, he searches on google how to kill another sensate through distance.  

***

 

It’s all wrong, school shouldn’t doubt students this way, what kind of self confident adults will come out of there when professors don’t do anything else but distrust them for years? They literally sit in their offices and write down questions and exercises to _test_ if students actually studied, as if their word on it didn’t mean anything at all. Liam is so outraged by all the questions on that piece of paper trying to judge him. Has Liam studied? No, of course not, he has better things to do in his life than learning about cells and organs and he already know the most important thing about those anyway: they _still_ _work_ even if you don’t know how. It’s such a great courtesy they do to humans, but no, they need to waste it like that, studying it anyway. Hell no, Liam won’t ever do that. The world could do so much better without biology anyway. And what if the paper will judge him for answering wrong to all its questions, this is a game that can be played by two and Liam will judge it right back.              

“It’s all wrong.” Liam jumps on his chair when Theo suddenly speaks from above his shoulder, glancing with a frown at his test. He’s dripping water everywhere and his body is covered only by a tiny towel wrapped around his hips. Nobody else in the classroom seems bothered by the sudden apparition of such an excessive amount of white naked skin and wet muscles and Liam tries not to stare too manifestly. The last thing he needs is to be accused of copying or something, since again, professors live to distrust him.    

“Then help me” He whispers very quietly, not even moving his lips actually. Theo still hears him of course.  

“I’m a little busy now, as you can see.” And he actually points at his indecent self as if Liam wasn’t already trying hard enough not to look at anything other than his face. Fucking exhibitionist.

“Then why are you here?”

Theo shrugs, stirring his hair. Liam didn’t need water in his eyes by the way. “You obviously called me.”

There are many things Liam never did in his life and calling Theo is the one he’s the most proud of. “I would never call you, I’d call Lydia if I knew how, not you. Actually, I’d call _everyone else_ before you.”

Theo throws a look around, walking slowly around Liam’s desk and leaving wet footprints on the floor. Someone is going to slip and break his neck. “Well, I don’t see Lydia” He smirks. “Or anyone else.”

“I’m surprised you even see anything beyond yourself” Liam mutters bitter, glancing at the wall clock. Ten minutes left and all he has is an useless asshole all naked and wet. “Anyway, if you’re not going to help, you can go back to your shower and drown yourself in it, thank you.”

For once Theo actually listens, flipping him off and then vanishing in the air with his skimpy blue towel. Liam glares at the void he left for several seconds, before giving his test a resigned look.

It’s all wrong, he suddenly realizes, and it’s not something new because he actually knew that already, but the difference is that now he also knows _why_. It’s wrong and his left hand –Liam doesn’t even use that to write, what the hell- runs to erase and correct and rewrite with a life of its own under Liam’s hypnotized eyes. When the bell rings, his test is complete and his left hand is his again. Lydia must have sensed his despair and she came to the rescue. Thank God for Lydia.

 

A part of him _knows_ that Theo is the only lefty in the cluster.

 

***

    

If there is one thing Liam hates – and there is, there are endless actually – is being interrupted as he lies on his bed watching Netflix and looking dead inside. Especially if the interruption is Theo wanting him to attend his date with some guy just to show off. Fuck this.

“What’s even the point?” Liam mutters standing next to the table where Theo and his date are having dinner. The guy, a tall blonde man with a weird face, not even so pretty if you ask Liam, is talking about his career as an artist, somehow managing to make it sound incredibly boring, and Theo is listening carefully, pretending to care. He doesn’t, Liam knows he doesn’t. Why would he anyway. “Who cares what he does in life, you’re going to fuck him tonight and then you’ll never see him again, just be done with it already.”

Theo doesn’t seem pleased by hearing the truth and he suddenly stops making eyes with weird face to glare at Liam. “Shut up for god’s sake.”

Liam would be offended if he wasn’t too busy laughing his ass off at weird face’s expression. _“Excuse me?”_

“Not you, I’m...the guys at the table next to us. They’re _so_ loud, it’s annoying.”

Liam’s burst of laughter just gets worse as weird face glances hesitantly at the old couple dinning quietly next to them. Theo clears his voice, smiling his way out of that and changing topic with his smooth voice. Weird face seems more than happy to let Theo distract him, because hot people’s life is easy just like that.   

“And don’t act all bothered by the way” Liam mutters after awhile, since Theo is not acknowledging his existence anymore. “I sure as hell didn’t come here by myself, you called me somehow. You want to throw in my face how your sexual life is better than mine, uh? I don’t care dude, I’m perfectly  happy by myself, with my Netflix and my Cheetos and my sweatpants. Look at your tight skinny jeans, they look so uncomfortable, I’m happy I’m not you right now.”

Liam waits and waits, but Theo doesn’t even glance at him, continuing to chat with weird face of things nobody gives a shit about.

“And when I’ll want to have sex or date someone, I will” Liam insists smug, raising his voice just to make harder for Theo to ignore him. “And it’s going to be someone I actually like and who’s cool and fun and hot, not some boring guy like this one. Do you even remember his name? I bet you don’t.” Theo’s jaw tenses imperceptibly and Liam snorts triumphal. He totally doesn’t know it.  “What is it, Jerard?” Liam continues mocking. “Is he another Jeff? You don’t know, do you. Actually, I already know you don’t, because _I_ don’t.”

Theo is showing some serious skills at ignoring him, Liam must admit it, but he’s not really bothered. Actually, if his interactions with people could be all like this, with him doing all the talking and nobody replying stupid stuff, his life would be better.

“Did you just call him _beautiful_ just because you don’t know his name? God, someone rip my ears off please” Liam whines as he circles around the table to get a better look at weird face. He smells weird too, like colony mixed with Cheetos. But that could be because Liam is eating them miles and miles away from there. “I’ll tell you how to call him if you don’t know his name: weird face. Look at it, it’s weird. He looks like the child from Home Alone but if he was the son of Joffrey Lannister.”

Liam is totally expecting a reaction for this, but Theo just leans towards weird face, placing a hand on his cheek and looking at him softly. “Wait, you have something in your eye.”

Liam feels like throwing up.

“Really?” He snaps disgusted. Liam always knew the world is a terrible place where awful things happen, of course he knows, but _why_ does he need to witness them? “Where do you think you are, you asshole, in a terrible romantic movie?” Weird face is chuckling all happy and Theo is still touching him. “This is real life, stop that. You’re being ridiculous.”

Theo doesn’t stop and Liam huffs frustrated, crossing his arms. “Stop ignoring me. Theo. Hey!”

Fuck this. Liam just wanted to chill on his couch and now he’s forced to stay there and having people being rude at him. This is so unfair and he’s going to make Theo pay for it.

Suddenly he’s home again, a bag of Cheetos on his lap and the remote controller in his hand, but what he needs is in the kitchen. Liam is at his seventh glass of water when his bladder starts bothering him. He drinks another one and then goes back to the couch. Theo appears in front of his TV almost five minutes later and Liam raises his brows at him, suppressing a satisfied smirk. “Yes?”

Theo glares at him, keeping his legs tight. He looks weirdly out of place all elegant with his perfectly white dress shirt and his hair all styled in Liam’s messy place. He also looks very uncomfortable. “I just went to the bathroom.”

“And?”

Theo growls. “And I still need to pee.”

“Then go again.” Liam shrugs.

“It’s _you_! You did it on purpose, you immature twat!”

“What, drinking water?” Liam snorts, grinning internally. He _so_ did it on purpose “Yes, I intentionally tried to keep myself hydrated in order not do die, how inconsiderate of me.”

Theo keeps complaining and being incredibly rude until Liam generously agrees to empty his bladder and when he steps towards the sink to wash his hands after he finds himself in the bathroom of a restaurant watching Theo do the same. Oh great, back at it again. He always wanted to visit London, but now that he spends all his time there he wants to burn the city to the ground.

“Look, if you really need to keep bothering me with your stupid date when I just want to relax at home, at least cut the gallantry bullshit off okay? It’s ridiculous.” Liam is standing right in front of the door and Theo stops with a sigh.  

“It’s called being nice, Liam. Now move.”

Liam can’t help and makes a quick dance step without moving from the door, making Theo roll his eyes. “Exactly and you’re not nice, at all, so why would you suddenly be it with him? You don’t even _like_ him.”

“What do you know? I could totally like him.”

Liam raises his brows, sceptical. “Do you?”

Theo shrugs. “I _could_.”

“But you don’t, so stop acting all nice and flirtatious with him” Liam concludes firm just as someone opens the door behind him and Theo suddenly steps aside, pretending to look at himself in the mirror.

“What do you even care?” He whispers under his breath as the other man disappears in one of the stall and Liam snorts outraged. What does _Liam_ care he asks.

“I _care_ ” He replies bitter. “Because I care about consistency. In the world. The world needs more consistency.” He nods convinced at his own words since Theo is not doing it. “Not people like you being all romantic with guys they don’t like, you’re going to give me caries.” Liam actually has one already, but that was probably because of all the candies. “Stop this and go home.”

“ _You_ go home” Theo retorts annoyed. “I’m sure your Netflix is missing you dearly.”

“Well, I’ll let you know that I’m missing it dearly too and I’d love to go back to it! At least our relationship is real and I don’t just _pretend_ to love it, I do love my Netflix account and I don’t need to pay for his dinner to prove it.” Liam is looking triumphal at Theo when a voice suddenly brings him back to his living room.      

“What the fuck Liam, I told you to stop using my Netflix account, get yours or pay me your part if you want it.”

“You don’t pay for true love!”

 

***

 

Liam hasn’t seen Theo in two days when it happens. Two whole days. He had a visit from Mason and he experienced a pap-test, which he could have done without by the way, thank you Allison, he’ll send her his therapist bill, but except for that his life has been a blessing. Maybe the sensate boss finally realized that nobody deserves to be connected with that asshole and set Liam free from his curse.

He didn’t. Liam is sleeping peacefully dreaming about a fun alien invasion like he often does and he’s demonstrating everyone how good he is at surviving any situation, like the goddamn hero he is, when the air is suddenly sucked away from his lungs, replaced by water and pain and suffocation. It’s an alien invasion and Liam is drowning, _fuck this._ When the screaming voice of a child starts filling his ears, Liam is done. This is an actual horror movie and he didn’t sign for this shit, so he instantly orders his body to wake up and he’s so stubborn about it that eventually it works.

Except he’s not in his room.

“Theo. Hey, asshole, wake up.”

Theo finally stops wriggling in his sheets and sits, his eyes wide opened immediately finding Liam at the end of his bed.

“Liam? What-”

“You were having a nightmare” Liam informs him impassive. The clock on the bedside table marks three in the morning. Fuck this so much. 

“Yeah, no shit.” Theo clears his voice and in a heartbeat he’s his sarcastic self again, just covered in cold sweat and with messy hair. “I mean, why are you still here? I thought I woke up from the nightmare.”

“Oh fuck off, and let me sleep this time.”

Liam almost thinks he’s starting to master this visiting thing because in a second he’s in his bed again, the regular breathing of Greenbergh on the other side of the room and the darkness wrapping him safely. Then he rolls on his side and he’s faced with the worst news ever: Theo is lying there next to him, staring at the ceiling.

_“What the fuck!”_ Liam snaps irritated and Greenbergh mumbles something in his sleep. “What are you doing here, I told you to let me sleep!” He continues in an angry whisper. The asshole is in his _bed_ , what the hell universe? It’s not even ironic anymore, just tragic.

“I’m not doing it on purpose, okay?” Theo mutters keeping his eyes on the ceiling. What does he even sees over there, Liam has no idea. “You came in my bedroom first anyway, so shut up.”

Liam gasps indignant because he was dealing with defending the human race against the alien invader before this asshole decided to bring him into his horrific nightmare –who dreams about _children screaming_ , really- but then he remembers that there’s no point in fighting life. Sometimes you just have to succumb. 

“Whatever, just stay quiet and let me sleep” He grumbles rolling again so he doesn’t have to face Theo anymore. “If you kick me or something I’ll kill you.”

Theo doesn’t reply and Liam quickly falls asleep with his cadenced breathing in his ears. He goes back to fight aliens, but this time Theo is with him, following him around and being completely useless as always. 

 

The next morning, Liam wakes up alone.

 

**

 

All those people with cameras hanging from their necks and big sunglasses covering their eyes are actually listening to him and Liam still can’t believe he actually gets paid to talk about History. He’s always so relaxed when he does that and it’s actually one of the few moments in which he doesn’t remember that the world sucks and he’s angry about it. He usually remembers it as soon as the last group of tourists leaves and he exists the museum, but still, he always feels a smile on his lips for quite some times usually.

Except this time Theo is staring at him, because he can’t leave him alone not even in his sacred place apparently. 

“What?” Liam whispers annoyed as his first group of the day takes its time to admire some fossil remains.

Theo looks taken aback by the sudden attention on him, like he didn’t expect Liam to notice him. Who knows for how long he’s been there spying on him.   

“Nothing” Theo shrugs, a little smile curling his lips. “I’m impressed.”

 

Liam is not sure of how to respond to that, so he just runs after a child dangerously close to touching an ancient finding and scolds the hell out of the little shit.

 

***

 

Liam knows that he uses his Netflix account for free and that he always leaves the dishes in the sink and that Greenbergh does basically all the cleaning in the house, which is why their house is always so messy and dirty by the way, but the point is, Liam _knows_. He knows he shouldn’t get this angry, that he has no right and everything.

He also knows he should have started to take his medications again after proved they didn’t give him hallucinations, but he didn’t. He didn’t and this means that Liam doesn’t give a fuck about all the things he knows, all he cares about is the fact that he made himself a salty cake by basically throwing in it all he had left in the fridge and Greenbergh ate it. He just ate it all, without asking for permission and now Liam is hungry and furious and he has Greenbergh crushed against the wall, his fists tight around the collar of his shirt and his breathing fast and erratic.

“Liam, mate, what the hell? Calm down!”

If there is one thing Liam hates to hear when he’s trying to calm down, is _calm down_ and he immediately shakes Greenbergh harder against the wall. “Shut up!” He shouts and he wants to punch him, he wants to make his friend bleed and it’s wrong and he knows it and he still wants to do it.

“Overreacting much?” Liam is totally overreacting and the more he thinks about it the more his vision gets foggy and the more angry he gets, but he knows who’s mocking him from behind with his sarcastic voice now and this distracts him just enough to hold his hands still.  

“I bet it wasn’t even good, you can’t cook for shit and we both know it” Theo continues appearing at his side, his voice calm and uninterested, like Liam almost murdering his roommate for food was perfectly usual. “You’re lucky he ate it actually.”

“It was _mine_ ” Liam growls not taking his eyes off Greenbergh even as he talks to Theo.

“Yes, and he already paid for it if he had to taste your cuisine. Now calm down, come on.”

Liam is just about to lose his shit because he has now been told to calm down _two_ times, but Theo has just slowly slipped his hand out of his pocket to place it on Liam’s forearm and Liam can feel his grip on his roommate’s shirt loosen as his eyes move surprised on the hand touching him.

It’s the first time Theo touches him and it’s mesmerising because even if he can see Theo’s palm resting on his tanned skin he knows it’s not actually there, not physically, and still he can feel it, not like a corporeal hand but not like a ghost either, just like something that it’s there even if it’s not, so real and concrete and distant at the same time, like the wind or the water if they had skin. And as he keep being himself, he can also feel it like Theo feels it, he experiences how it is to touch his own warm skin and to look at his own amazed eyes and having difficulties to breath because of the overwhelming sensations. 

Liam lowers his hands and Greenbergh quickly leaves the room muttering insults under his breath.

“Take your fucking medicines, Liam.” Theo says and then he’s gone, leaving him alone in his kitchen, with an empty stomach and an empty fridge.

 

Liam is not sure where all his anger went.

 

***

 

Theo’s fingers are so tight on the armrests of his chair that they’re even paler than usual –and that says a lot, don’t they know what sun is in London? Where they get their vitamin D from? – and his shoulders are clearly tense as he keeps his eyes on the screen of his laptop without even blinking. Negan has just started his doggerel and the camera keeps changing from frame to frame alternating the terrified face of every character. Liam has been waiting this for so long.

This is probably the most evil moment in his life, the one that could define him as a villain, and he doesn’t regret a thing. Theo _started_ _it._

It was almost a month before and Liam had just began season five of Game of Thrones when Theo suddenly appeared on the couch next to him, smiled at him and whispered happily “Jon Snow dies at the end of this season” before disappearing. It was one of the biggest tragedy in Liam’s life and now it’s time for revenge.

He slowly takes a step closer and leans on Theo from behind, bringing his lips to his ear.

“He kills Abraham and Glenn.”

 

 

That day is the first time all the members of the cluster meet together at the same time. They all could hear Theo’s insults apparently.

 

***

 

Liam won’t say that he doesn’t hate it anymore.

It’s still weird and Lydia still hasn’t figured out _what_ exactly is happening to them, let alone why, and it would be a lie to say that he doesn’t miss his privacy or that he understands why out of seven people nicer than him, Theo still keeps being the one Liam sees the most, for no apparent reason. Lydia said the same happens to her with Allison, but that’s because they actually like each other and they get along incredibly well. So, Liam still hates being a sensate and he still thinks it’s the most impractical thing ever, because you keep getting catapulted from one part of the world to another basically without any saying in that, and you’re never actually alone, even when you are, because you still know that it could change at any moment and even if it doesn’t and you manage not to have people appearing out of nowhere, you still get to feel what they’re feeling if it’s strong enough.

It’s frustrating and annoying and inconvenient most of the time, but it _can_ be nice. Not always, almost never actually, but _sometimes_. Like when he’s walking on the street and it’s so hot he wants to fall on the ground and die and he suddenly feels wet and fresh, because it’s raining in London and Theo forgot his umbrella. Or when he wakes up to the sweet taste of vanilla or white chocolate because Kira works in a candy shops and she eats all the time. Sometimes Liam just feels incredibly excited and happy for no apparent reason and it doesn’t even matter who it is, it’s just nice to feel it. The ride on the London eye was nice too, even if Theo was with him. He was alone at least, without any weird looking guy to date, and so he didn’t ignore him that time. Having Theo falling from his surfboard was fun too, even if everyone at the beach thought Liam suddenly forgot how to surf after years. Mason invited him to a concert in Paris at some point and Liam came just for the good part, without having to wait hours in line, and he sang and jumped along with hundreds of people he never met in a place he’s never been. When he almost fell asleep while driving after an exhausting day at college first and then at the museum, Brett nudged him in the ribs so hard and while it wasn’t exactly a nice moment, it probably saved his life. Malia showed him the Amazon Rainforest and lake Michigan was nice as well, even if he crushed Lydia’s romantic date with her boyfriend. One time he started laughing so hard while watching South Park and it wasn’t even that funny to be honest, he just wanted to laugh and then he felt it, in his ears and his mind and his heart, all of them laughing as well without even knowing why, he saw Kira tearing up and Theo trying to fight it but he laughed too in the end, even if he wanted to look all bothered, and Liam felt so good that he did it, that he made people all over the world laugh loud for no reason, even that asshole of Theo.

So yeah, it can be nice, but this doesn’t mean that Liam doesn’t hate it, especially when he’s ready to go take an afternoon nap and just about to land on his soft mattress and everything gets dark, outside and in, and the cold air of the night makes him shiver.

Theo is sitting on the wooden bridge with his legs hanging above the dark torrent and Liam suddenly hears the child from his dream screaming again. He calls a name, but nobody answers, because she drown.

“This is where you found her?” Liam asks quietly, sitting next to Theo. He suddenly feels like crying and he misses this girl he never met like he never missed anyone in his life.  

Theo nods almost imperceptibly, but it’s not like Liam needs it. He already knows that’s the spot, of course he does. He’s the one that found her after all. He was nine and it was raining and Tara’s lips were blue and they weren’t moving to answer him, no matter how many time Liam _-Theo-_ called her. She was his sister and Liam loved her and she died. She died and part of Liam died with her, because a part of Theo did.

It hurts a bit every day, but today is the anniversary of her death. That’s why they’re here.

“Why are you crying, Liam?” Theo chuckles with a weak voice, suddenly looking at him. Liam hasn’t felt the tears wetting his cheeks. “You didn’t even know her.” 

And he didn’t. Tara wasn’t his sister and he didn't know she existed until five minutes ago, but he still can’t stop asking himself why he couldn’t save her, why he couldn’t run faster.

“You loved her” He shrugs in response and his voice sounds so broken. Liam is not sure how much Lydia explained to Theo about the deepness of their connection, how it can somehow break the borders of identity, but it must be enough, because Theo doesn’t question him anymore and he lets Liam do all the cry as they both stare at the river.

 

“It’s not your fault” Liam says much later, realizing that all the guilt he feels is not his. He’s not the one asking himself why he couldn’t save her, even if he is. He’s just the one letting it all out. “You were nine, it’s not your fault.”

Theo doesn’t answer and they stay like that for hours, staring at the water with their shoulders barely brushing and not a word on their lips.

 

They don’t talk about it the morning after when they meet in the bathroom, nor ever again actually. Theo still pisses the hell out of him. 

 

***

 

Sometimes Liam feels him at night. It never happens when they’re both actually awake, it’s never like the first time with the nightmare, and it’s not the _whole_ night either, especially because they’re in different time zones, but sometimes when he’s just half asleep Liam rolls in his bed and feels someone sleeping next to him and he just knows it’s Theo.

It doesn’t even bothers him anymore, after awhile he just got used to it.

 

***

 

It’s been months when Liam finally masters the visiting thing, like he eventually always masters everything in his life, especially alien invasions. They can all visit each other when they want now and even the accidental encounters are less and less common.

 

It doesn’t mean seeing Theo less. They don’t talk about it of course, and they don’t stop complaining and act annoyed all the time, but Liam is sure Theo knows it too, that if they see each other so often it’s because they want to.

 

***

 

Liam didn’t even notice at first, but he can’t remember the last time Theo went on a date with someone.

 

***

 

At some point Theo gives up and starts watching only tv shows Liam hasn’t seen.

Liam thinks about doing researches on Google just to spoil him anyway, but then he reconsiders. Since he hasn’t seen those shows, he might as well watch them with Theo.

Soon enough it becomes a regular thing. Sometimes Mason joins them, just for certain shows, like Stranger Things _,_ but most of the time it’s just the two of them, and occasionally Greenberg.

It’s his Netflix after all.

 

***

 

Theo actually makes him a cake for his birthday. To be fair, he does it with Liam’s hands, in Liam’s kitchen, with Liam’s eggs and flour and it’s almost like _Liam_ made himself a cake for his birthday –that’s what Greenberg saw for sure- but Theo says it was the only way to actually give him the cake without having to eat it by himself in London and he does have a point.

 

Theo is not really good at baking, Liam finds out. The cake tastes like shit, but he still eats it all.

 

***

 

A part of Liam knows he’s crushing on Theo.

 

He also knows crushing is an euphemism.

 

***

 

 

It’s been almost an year when Liam opens his door to get the pizza he ordered fifty minutes before. He’s ready to kill the delivery man for making him wait so long and maybe that’s why Theo is there. He’s the only one in the cluster able to calm him when he’s in a bad mood, even if Liam still isn’t sure how he exactly does it. His anger just shifts towards him somehow and then it’s still anger of course, it doesn’t just disappear, but it’s also something else, something less unbearable, because Liam is never _just_ angry at Theo.

“Hey.” Theo smiles, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Hey” Liam absently nods at him, glancing around for the delivery man. There’s no one else in the aisle. “Where’s my pizza?”

Theo raises his brows, shrugging. “Do I look like a pizza man to you?”

Liam looks at him, in his ripped jeans and his purple sweater contrasting with the pallor of his skin. His bright blue eyes and the hint of scruff on his squared jaw. The way his hair looks like the softest thing in the world. Of course he doesn’t, he looks like a fucking model, as always.

“Someone rang my bell and ran, it must be the evil child from the third floor again” Liam mutters glancing around the aisle again. No tracks of pizza in sight, which mean he’ll punch a delivery mean in the face today, even if Theo is there looking all cute. “ Fucking children, what do we even need them for I wonder. Are you wearing perfume?” Liam suddenly curls his nose confused, smelling the air.

Theo just nods and Liam frowns. He doesn’t usually use perfume.

“And where are you going all dressed up?” He asks curious. He’s not sure why the fact that Theo put perfume on is suddenly so important to him.

Theo looks at him carefully for several seconds and then he shrugs, vague. “I have a date.”

Liam suddenly wants to punch the delivery man harder. It’s not correct actually, he wants to punch whoever Theo has a date with, and then he wants to punch Theo too, and maybe himself in the end, but the delivery man will do, if he’ll ever deign to show up.

“Mh.” He mumbles trying to sound uninterested, looking at his slippers. _Why_ does Theo have a date? It’s been months since he had one. “With who?” He wants to see this guy Theo puts perfume on for and so he doesn’t wait for an answer before closing his eyes. Theo is already there checking on him anyway, so Liam can take a look at his evening as well. He bets his date is boring and weird and unworthy of his time just like they all are. Except that Liam can’t see this guy, he can’t even see where Theo is or what he’s doing right now actually. He opens his eyes again, perplexed. “I-where are you? I can’t visit you.”

Theo bits his lower lip, holding a smirk. He doesn’t seem surprised.

“That might be because I took an eleven hours flight and I’m standing right in front of you” He says and Liam’s heart stops beating. _He’s here._ “You can’t visit me because I flew all the way from another continent just to do this.” Liam’s mind is still processing the fact that Theo is actually there on his doorstep, real and corporeal as everything else in his living room, when a grip tightens on his stained t-shirt and he’s suddenly pulled forward.

Liam has lived the lives of seven other people in the past year and he felt things he didn’t even know existed and saw places so breathtaking he had to close his eyes, he talked and drank and laughed and sang with people all over the world, he walked in the streets of Tokyo with his nose up in the air and he climbed an actual fucking mountain, he jumped from a cliff into the blue icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean even if he was scared, because someone else wasn’t, he petted a giraffe and he looked down from the Eiffel Tower at the city below him, he saw the eternal sunset above Rome and tasted pizza in a little place in Naples, he experienced so much more than he was prepared for and the whole time he didn’t know that it was nothing. Theo is kissing him and all those lives Liam lived in the past year suddenly feel like games, a pale simulation of actual emotions. Theo is kissing him and Liam is sure he never felt a thing before. His hairs are soft under his fingertips and even if Liam has been talking to him just inside his mind for the past year, nothing feels more real than Theo.

“Wow” Theo breathes as they part and Liam can just agree. _Wow._ He wonders if his cheeks are just as red and his lips as swallowed as Theo’s, if his hair is such a mess as well and if he looks so fucking beautiful too in his eyes. But he already knows the answer, because he can look at himself just as Theo sees him, just like he can feel his heart beating as fast as his. “So” Theo bites his lip again and Liam doesn’t know how he managed to never jump on a plane for London as well in all that time. “About that date.”

“Yes, I’d love to.” And he’s telling yes to so much more than a date. “I mean, I’ll sacrifice myself so no one else has to, I guess.” He adds clearing his throat. A whole year and he never noticed Theo has the most beautiful smile in the world. “You seem a lot less annoying in person anyway.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing was too long for my sanity, I hope it's not disseminated with typos and other things that could throw shame on my cow, but it probably is who am I kidding. I still hope you guys enjoyed it and if you did I'd love to hear it because I'm like a dog, I get very happy and excited when someone tells me that I'm a good girl.


	2. THEO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief interruption to my pause from updating because my friend finished sense8 yesterday night and I felt nostalgic and this happened.  
> I had most of it written already from ages to be fair, but I finished it, so...maybe you’d like to read it? Maybe not and I'm just ruining Liam's chapter too, but I’m still posting it because it bothered me having this thing just sitting there in my PC. It’s not exactly a sequel, just Theo’s POV of the thing, since Liam is not a reliable source of informations and nobody should ever listen to him.

 

 

“Where am I? And why _the fuck_ are you putting cream in your Carbonara?”

Meeting Liam was the most confusing experience Theo ever had. His kitchen was even more confusing and scaring, so ridiculously tiny and messy, just like his green discoloured t-shirt covered in stains of dubious nature. Liam had stared at him with wide eyes for quite some time and Theo had thought they were going to talk about the fact that he just found himself in somebody else’s apartment for no reason at all and apparently by teleportation, but then Liam just gave him his back and kept doing scaring, illogical things with his food, like Theo wasn’t even there. Wherever _there_ was.

“Seriously dude, stop that, you don’t put cream in... _hey_ , I’m talking to you. Where am I? What happened to your kitchen?”

Theo would have questioned his actual existence and the fact that the weird guy could actually hear him if it wasn’t for the way he started adding more and more cream in his pan, aggressively, like out of spite. Oh, he _totally_ heard him, the fucker.

“You’re not actually eating that, are you? Hey, I’m talking to you! What is this place? Who’s that guy on the couch and why do everyone in this house have dirty shirts? Ever heard of doing laundry?”

Liam had just kept doing unspeakable things to his Carbonara without  even looking at him and Theo had decided to try his luck with the guy on the couch, the one with tomato sauce on his shirt. This one ignored him even more: while kitchen guy was obviously hearing him and just ignoring him poorly, this one didn’t show any reaction at all. Theo insulted all his family until his ancestors of several generations backwards, before deciding that he really couldn’t hear him.

“What’s wrong with your mate over there, is he deaf or something? Oh my god, what’s _that_ , throw it away please.” Theo made a disgusted noise as Liam emptied his pan on a plate. “Also, your house sucks, I don’t want to be here, can you show me the exit please? I can’t find it with all these dirty socks on the floor. You guys are like animals, I swear.”

Liam stabbed his fork on the plate with so much unnecessarily strength at this point, but he still managed not to look at him nor speak.

“Is that a hole in your shirt? Hell, I bet you have rats in this place as well.”

Liam had thrown him his plate at this point and that was the end of their first interaction: Theo had suddenly found himself in his nice, clean apartment in London with no actual evidence of what just happened to him besides a nasty, inexplicable taste on his tongue.

 

***

 

The second time, Theo is working at his uncle’s gym and suddenly he catches glimpse of Liam staring at him from afar. He’s not doing anything, just standing there, barefoot, in the middle of a gym full of people while he stares at Theo, not even pretending to lift some weight or anything. It doesn’t make sense and Theo is incredibly bothered by it as he keeps training trying to ignore him. He doesn’t like when things can’t be explained by logic and he’s dying from the need to go over there and ask the weird guy who he is, how did he find his gym and what the hell happened to his shoes. He actually glances around the gym to spot them, because they _must_ be somewhere near, there’s no way this guy just walked there with no shoes on, his feet wouldn’t look so clean if that was the case. Theo has so many questions and yet he keeps working out and staying quiet even as the guy approaches him, because he hasn’t forgot that the last time they saw each other he threw _a plate_ at him. Theo always thought that kind of irrational response during fights only happened in movies, but apparently not.

“You were in my kitchen.”

Oh, so now he admits he saw him.

“Why am I here now? And _where_ is here anyway?”

Theo wants to know that as well. Is that still his gym? Are they in an alternative dimensions or some shit like that? He doesn’t believe in that kind of things, or anything that can’t be proven by science anyway, but something weird is definitely happening there. Maybe it’s all in his head, which would explain how he found himself in a place where he never went in his life the other day or why the guy is not wearing shoes and doesn’t seem to interact with anything or anyone besides him. Whatever might be the case, he still threw a plate at Theo and so he keeps ignoring him.

“Is this your fault? I was sleeping, you know. I like to stay out of gyms when I sleep. Or when I’m awake for that matters.”

Theo knows it’s stupid to feel _too smart_ to have hallucinations. It doesn’t make sense and he can still be the smartest person in every room and suffer from them, just like that. It’s a pretty logical explanation to what’s happening to him right now and he should maybe check it out with a doctor, do some exams, find out what exactly is causing them and fix it. Going for the physical causes without wasting time with the absurdity of what he’s seeing.

 “All this fucking masochist people, look at them, suffering and sweating for no reason. What a joke.” The point is, this is not a hallucination, or at least it’s not _Theo’s_ hallucination, because no logic in the world could explain why the hell his unconscious is talking so much nonsense about the thing he loves most in his life. Nope, this isn’t his head. Maybe it’s happening in his head, there’s a big chance that’s the case because nobody else seems offended by the guy’s words, but still, it’s not _his_ head.

“And then they’ll drink their protein shakes and post it on Instagram, typical.”

This is someone else’s brain-dead head.

“ I don’t wanna see it. Send me back to my couch, now.”

Theo hates that it makes sense. This guy’s outfit just screams _I’m napping on my couch_ and it makes so much sense that he’s doing exactly that, except for the part where he’s _not_ napping on his couch and he’s standing right in front of him, complaining and judging everyone in his black boxers and Gryffindor t-shirt.

“You know what we drink on my couch? Beer. Fuck _smoothies_.” He gets closer to Theo’s face as he says that, irreverent as if he was insulting his mother. “Is this making you mad, gym guy? Me talking shit about smoothies?” Theo doesn’t even like smoothies, he totally prefers eating whole fruits and veggies, but yes, this is making him mad. He’s trying his best to finish his session of weights while ignoring the illogical things happening to him and this guy is purposely making it hard. “And what if I said that avocado sucks?”

He’s so close now that Theo is sure he’s about to kiss him for a second. But then he just evilly whispers _fast-food,_ his breath caressing Theo’s lips. He seems very proud of himself after and Theo’s jaw hardens, because nobody is reacting to a guy’s face less than an inch away from his lips. This is totally happening _in his head_.

“Ah! You can hear me, see? Am I bothering your healthy ass? Then let me go home, I don’t know what this is but I don’t like it. I need to rest, that’s why I’m taking a nap. I can’t rest at the gym, I’m getting tired just by looking at you and your masochist friends. ”

He seems convinced Theo is somehow in charge of the weird teleportation thing they have going on and it’s ridiculous, because if that was the case Theo would have sent him in the depth of a volcano already.

“Fine, keep doing that” He snorts. “Just because I didn’t talk to you the other day. You popped in my kitchen out of nowhere. Don’t you know you don’t enter people’s houses without an invitation?”

Theo’s ex best friend, Josh, is training right at the other side of the room, like always, and Theo has managed to ignore him for years after they stopped being friends, so weird guy here doesn’t stand a chance. Theo is going to ignore him just fine, he doesn’t even know who he is anyway, except that he’s a lazy ass who doesn’t know how to cook or do laundry. And who probably doesn’t even exist in the first place.

“Seriously, I feel so tired, like I was the one lifting that thing. Can you stop that and lie down for a minute? Your muscles won’t wilt if you take a break, I promise.” It can’t be his conscience because Theo is _not_ tired, at all, he just started his weights and he has never been so whiny anyway. This is some actual entity with a will of its own that somehow has linked itself to him. Theo can’t see this guy doing it on purpose, when he doesn’t even know how to do laundry apparently, and he certainly didn’t ask for this himself, so it must be something bigger than both of them. Maybe they’ve been caught in some super classified international experiment. Some area 51 type of shit. Theo just wished it was aliens and not this.

“Fine, keep training for being an asshole, god forbids someone steal your supreme asshole title.”

Whatever. So what if it’s real? What if there’s actually a man inside his head? It doesn’t mean Theo has to acknowledge him. He can ignore him just fine.

Theo doesn’t notice the exact moment the annoying guy –Liam, that’s his name, Theo doesn’t remember him saying it, but he knows it’s Liam –stops sitting in a corner scowling at everyone. It’s mostly because there isn’t such moment and he’s still there in a corner, but he’s also not. He’s taking a shower and he’s...Theo doesn’t sees it as much as he feels it. Liam is jerking off and Theo’s dick is hard as a rock in his sweatpants now. Some people started staring at him.

Josh is whispering something to some other guy, pointing not very subtly at his sweatpants. They’re both giggling now.

Theo breaks his vote to ignore him for the first time in years just to flip him off, and that’s when he stops ignoring Liam as well.

He’s still in his gym and he can still hear people laughing softly at him, but he’s also in a tiny hot bathroom he’s never been in before, glaring at Liam’s blurry figure through the glass of the shower door. “Stop jerking off you loser, I’m trying to work out!” He snaps irritated and when Liam immediately peeps his head out of the shower and spots him Theo is so close to burst into laughter. He’s still incredibly annoyed and so turned on he’s almost leaking in his pants, but he never thought it was possible for a human face to look _that_ outraged.

“What the actual fuck” Liam starts and his voice is even more indignant and it’s the first time they don’t ignore each other and they argue of course, because it’s so clear that this is all Liam’s fault, how could he even think about jerking off while he’s in Theo’s head? Theo’s head is not made for other people to jerk off in it, for god’s sake, how can this guy even talk about private property and privacy when he’s the one indirectly doing _things_ to his dick?

 

Theo is not even going to acknowledge the blonde guy sitting on the toilet and laughing his ass off the whole time, because if they’re more than one he’s going to shoot himself in the head, plain and simple. _Why_ couldn’t be aliens.

 

***

 

Even when you’re going mental, it’s still supposed to be slow and gradual, with some time between the first hallucinations and the following, or at least that’s what Theo always thought.

He was wrong.

Once it started, it doesn’t slow.

Theo now sees Liam every single day, sometimes more than once. If he looks in a mirror, whenever he is and wherever he is, he can be sure Liam will be in it, glaring back at him.

They’re not friendly with each other because they don’t live in the same time zone and you can’t actually  be friendly with someone who decides to go to his first metal concert exactly when you just sank your head in your pillow after a tiring day of work, but it seems like there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re tied together and  it doesn’t stop, no matter how mad Liam gets everytime.  

That’s the fun part, Liam getting mad. He doesn’t seem to do _annoyed_ , he just goes for it, every single time: cheeks flushed with fury and tongue ready to snap the most ridiculous comebacks. It seems to be a medical condition and Theo being amused by it probably makes him a terrible person, but listening to Josh a terrible person it’s exactly who Theo is, so too bad. He probably has a medical condition as well anyway, since he now argues on a daily basis with a guy in his head.

They should probably have a serious talk about what the hell is happening to them and most importantly _how_ , but they’re too busy insulting each other to do that.

Liam lives in California and the weirdest thing is not that Theo saw the warm sunny sight from his window at the eighth floor of a high building in Los Angeles with his own eyes without ever been out of Europe, but that he knows Liam wasn’t born there. The weirdest thing is that he knows he moved out of Beacon Hills when he was six, even if Liam never told him. He doesn’t know everything, but he knows _things_ he shouldn’t know, random facts and even emotions, he knows how it is to be so mad you can’t stop yourself from destroying your coach’s car even if everyone is staring at you, he knows it so perfectly like he felt it on his skin, even if Theo would never do something like that. He knows how it feels to get mad at yourself for getting mad in the first place.

Other things, Theo knows them because he saw them. Liam never cleans the house and his roommate is a saint, for example. He won’t make it to his sixty if he keeps eating like that. He loves history and he sounds like a child when he laughs. He puts whites and coloured in the washing machine together and this is why he doesn’t own truly white t-shirts anymore.

He doesn’t look aware of the effect he has on people.

 

Theo is never _not_ concerned about the guy in his head only he can see, but eventually he gets used to it.

He doesn’t exactly enjoy it and aliens still would have been a better option, but at least it’s not boring. He almost likes it.

 

***

 

Unexpectedly, there are others.

The blonde guy laughing at them on the toilet should have given that away and Liam mentioned them to be fair, but Theo still hasn’t decided if Liam himself actually exists, so he’s not a reliable source of information.

The red-head girl who just appeared in his office at the gym while he was doing accountancy on the other hand is. To begin with, she didn’t just pop out of nowhere wearing  boxer and a stained t-shirt while being all whiney and grumpy, she’s all dressed up and her high heels give her a professional look. She even went as far as doing the polite thing and introducing herself: Lydia Martin, quantum physics researcher, nice to meet him.

She still didn’t enter from the door though.

“What happened to the other one? The angry one?”

Lydia looks a little baffled by his question, probably because she was expecting him to introduce himself as well, but Liam hasn’t visited him at all that day and now there’s this new girl in his head, so being polite is not exactly  Theo’s first priority. He just got used to his maybe real recurring hallucination, he doesn’t want a new one.  

“Oh, you mean Liam?”

“Yes, Liam.” Theo nods carefully. She must have talked to him as well. He wonders if they see each other often.

“I think he has classes now.” Lydia shrugs, taking a seat in front of Theo’s desk. The chair doesn’t move at all. “But if my guess is right, you’ll see him again soon, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried.” Theo snorts and he doesn’t like the way he can tell Lydia doesn’t believe him for a second. She has always been good at reading people and Theo has no idea how he knows that. It’s a little scary. “Do you know him?”

“Liam? Well, I know he lives in California, he studies History and he has a short temper, to use an euphemism. That’s pretty much it.” Theo listens carefully and he feels weirdly satisfied with her answer. That’s not much. She doesn’t know that Liam is allergic to peanuts and that he got suspended for founding a secret fight club when he was in high school. She doesn’t even seem to know that he only sleeps with his door open. “Do you? Know him?”

“No, he just pops out every day and gets mad at everything. He’s funny.” Theo shrugs with a half smile, before clearing his throat. “But don’t tell him.”

“No, of course not.” Lydia reassures him and for some reason Theo immediately trusts her. Of course Lydia is loyal, he knew that already.

There’s a silence but it’s not an embarrassing one, they’re just sitting there studying each other.

“And...” Theo hesitates, meeting her eyes. She doesn’t look lost at all, not like Liam and not like him. It’s almost as if she knew what’s going on. “Do you know me?”

“You’re Theo.” She says immediately, but it doesn’t look like she plans on adding more.

“Yes.”

“I’m Lydia.” And she said that already, but this time she extends her hand and Theo almost takes it. Almost. He stops at the last second and retracts his hand, because he doesn’t want to try and touch her and find out there’s nothing there. He crosses his arms and Lydia lowers her hand as well, a sharp look in her eyes. She doesn’t seem bothered at all. “Is this your first time meeting someone else? You only saw Liam everytime?”

“Yes, only Liam.” Theo confirms, frowning. “Are there other ones?”

“Besides me, Liam and you, five more.” Lydia sounds sure about it and Theo tries hard not to show his astonishment. Five more. That makes seven people that have access to his head. And that have access to Liam’s head as well. He doesn’t feel happy. “I didn’t meet them all yet, but if what I read is right, I will. We both will.”

She says it like it’s a good thing, but Theo doesn’t think so. He’s still not sure whether he should sit there in his office and talk to a girl nobody else in the gym would see or hear, but doing that with _five_ more people? He might as well start talking to animals too. 

“And what did you read exactly?” He asks anyway because it’s unrealistic and illogical, okay, but every part of his body seems to believe this. Nothing wrong with being reasonable and listen to what his hallucination has to say since she’s been so polite about it.

“I can show you.” She says and immediately Theo is not sitting at his desk anymore. The athenaeum is wide and bright, with big windows opening on the sky and statues all over the place, and Theo’s eyes get lost on the faces of students he never met for several seconds before he quickly turns to Lydia, busy searching something on a shelf.

“Would you mind just sending me an e-mail?” He asks and he’s not sure if he did it on purpose, but they’re in his little office once again. The sky of London is grey and cloudy beyond his tiny window and he’s not sure going crazy should look like this.

Lydia stares at him and then she smirks, shaking her head a little. “So you can show it to someone else and see if they see it too? Smart.” Theo hides a guilty look, but she actually seems impressed. “Just tell me your address and I will, but Theo, it’s real. I’m real, Liam is real, we all are.”

Theo smirks.

“Yeah well, then you won’t mind sending me that e-mail, would you?”

 

***

 

Maybe he can’t prove to anyone that she actually was in his office yesterday, but a Lydia Martin from Michigan, U.S.A. , actually sent him an e-mail and Tracey, Josh’s ex girlfriend, the one who cheated on him with Theo, can see it too. 

Turns out he’s not going crazy after all.

 

***

 

“You’re real.” He tells Liam the next time he sees him, surprise and sureness both audible in his voice.

“What?” Liam lowers his joystick and barely glances at him before returning to his game against his roommate. 

“You’re real.” Theo repeats. “This is real. I met Lydia.”

This time Liam puts his joystick down, frowning. 

“Oh wow, you meet Lydia once and suddenly you believe it.” He mutters bitter. “Wasn’t I real enough? Do I look like a ghost to you?”

“You look like you need a shower, there’s tomato sauce on your hair” Theo points out because what’s wrong with personal hygiene and this guy, seriously. It’s like he eats with his entire body. “And she sent me an e-mail so I could make my friend read it. So now I _know_ it’s real.”

Liam snorts, absently running a hand through his hair as if that was supposed to help with the tomato sauce situation. “Yeah well, everyone else knew it already. Me and Mason have been friends on Facebook for two weeks now and Kira keeps sending me cupcakes recipes on Instagram.”

Theo blinks astonished, absolutely not knowing who the hell these Mason and Kira are supposed to be or why someone would send Liam cupcakes recipes when he can’t even cook a Carbonara without slaughtering it. He feels like everyone went to a party and he hasn’t been invited and he doesn’t appreciate it one bit. He hates not knowing things.

“Better late than never I guess.” Liam smirks smug, clearly satisfied that for once he’s the one knowing things, and Theo throws him a glare.

“Yeah, well. Fuck off.”

“You’re talking to yourself again, Liam.” He hears Greenbergh sighing before he’s in London again.

 

***

 

He finds Liam on Instagram that night.

It’s mostly videos of himself ranting about stuff or pranking his poor roommate. Most of the comments are about how funny Greenbergh is when he gets mad and starts screaming, but the comment Theo agrees with the most is the one about Liam having the most contagious laugh ever.

He doesn’t follow him, but he keeps checking his profile every night before sleep to see if he posted something new.

 

***

 

Liam finds out eventually.

“Stop stalking my Instagram, you weirdo.” He says appearing next to him as Theo scrolls through his profile lying in bed. Theo’s heart jumps in his throat and before he can justify himself in any way Liam is gone.

 

Two minutes later he receives a notification.

 

**_Liam Dunbar started following you._ **

 

This time he follows back.

Greenbergh is really funny when he gets mad after all.

 

***

 

Theo always found the subway relaxing. All those people minding their business around him, when it’s truly just him and a pair of headphones shielding his thoughts from the rest of the world.

“But the dung beetle.”

Sadly there’s nothing that can shield him from Liam’s thoughts.

“What?” He murmurs imperceptibly, because to everyone else in the wagon there’s no one sitting next to him. Theo kinda envies them.

“The dung beetle” Liam insists. “The one that pushes the ball of poop, you know?”

Theo rolls his eyes impatient. It’s seven in the morning for god’s sake. “Yeah, I know what a dung beetle is, what about it.”

“What about it?!” Liam widens his eyes incredulous, seeming genuinely offended by the question.“Are you really asking me what about it? _Dude,_ so many things.” He sighs amazed. “Like, first of all, where does he bring the poop? What does he need the poop for? It’s important that it’s a ball or it’s just to carry it better? What does he do with it? And most importantly, it’s even _his_ poop or someone else’s poop and if it’s someone else’s poop, is this someone okay with him taking it or he has to kill other animals to steal their poop? Does he give them something in return? It’s just...” Liam shakes his head overwhelmed, gesturing frantically with his hands. “So many questions, you can’t even start asking them because they just keep coming, so many, and I truly don’t understand how you, how _anyone,_ can be perfectly fine going on with their lives without one single answer to all of this.”

“Get out.” Theo mutters through his teeth.

“What.”

“Get out of my head!”

 _“Excuse me?”_ The old lady in front of him seems ready to hit him with her bag of groceries and that’s when Theo realises he forgot to keep his voice low this time.

“I’m sorry, I was talking to...” Theo gestures vaguely to the now empty seat next to him, clearing his throat. “I mean, there was a fly bothering me. Flying in my ears and things like that. It’s gone now.”

The old lady still doesn’t seem convinced and she keeps throwing him suspicious glances for the rest of the ride, but she doesn’t beat him to death with her bag and Theo counts it as a win.

When she gets off the subway and the threat is definitely gone, Theo allows himself to let his guard down and he closes his eyes, resting his head against the window.

This time nobody sneaks into his head to ask ridiculous questions and he lets himself relax at the sound of the music.

 

He lasts exactly forty seconds and then he spends the next twenty minutes reading the Wikipedia page about the dung beetle, because seriously, _where the hell does he bring all the poop?_

 

***

 

When Theo bites his salad and it tastes like the hamburger Liam is eating across the ocean, that’s when he starts to love it. He keeps pretending he doesn’t and acting annoyed all the time because it’s too damn funny how riled up and offended Liam can get, but at this point Theo is completely sold. This crazy sensate thing they have going on is so much better than aliens.

It’s mostly because of the salad that doesn’t taste like salad and the little things like how red Liam’s face gets as he complains about it, but it’s also the fact that Theo can’t remember the last time he felt alone.

 

***

 

“It’s been a month.” Liam tells him one day appearing in his bedroom with an accusatory look on his face. Theo just keeps admiring himself in the mirror as he finish to button up his shirt. Perfect, just perfect. He’s totally getting laid tonight.

Liam is still frowning at him. Theo has a date later, so of course he’s there. He’s obviously incredibly bitter about other people having a sex life while he doesn’t. Theo doesn’t understand why that is by the way, it’s not like he couldn’t have every boy and girl at his feet if he wanted to.  

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s been _a month_.” Liam repeats as Theo runs a hand through his hair to make it look just a little messy. “I met everyone else several times each. You still didn’t meet all of them, just Lydia and Brett.”

“And you care why?” Theo sighs impatiently. If what Lydia found out is true, he’s going to be bound with these seven strangers for the rest of his life, it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of time to meet all of them.

“Because I know why you’re the only one who still hasn’t met everyone.” Liam declares triumphant, crossing his arms on his chest and making a dramatic pause. He totally wants Theo to ask him about it and Theo makes a point of not doing it. He’s going to tell him anyway. “It’s because you’re too busy persecuting _me_.” Here he goes. “They can never visit you because you’re always visiting me and when you’re not, you manages to get me to visit you. It’s so ridiculous honestly, just go bother someone else too sometimes, okay?”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Theo mutters annoyed. “And you visit me just as much, I don’t see why this should be my fault. I don’t control it.”

Liam huffs. “I bet you do.”

“I don’t. Maybe _you_ do, for what I know. Maybe you have a crush on me or something and that’s why you always pop out at my dates and ruin them.”

Liam snorts loudly. “I make them better, all your dates are boring.”

He kinda does make them better, but he doesn’t need to know.

“At least I have dates.”

Liam makes a very shocked and offended noise and this point and disappears. Theo shrugs. So dramatic.

 

Theo’s date keeps talking about some boring stuff and Liam hasn’t showed up yet. Theo is getting impatient.

 

He doesn’t get laid that night, even if he totally could have. Instead he walks back home with a red velvet cupcake and he starts eating it slowly, forcing down every bite with a grimace of disgust on his face. He hates red velvet.

“I thought you were too stupid to appreciate red velvet.” Liam says after a while, pouting from the other side of the table.

“I am.” Theo confirms as he keeps chewing. He’s not even sure it’s working, it’s not like he tastes everything Liam eats –and thank god by the way.

“Then why...oh.”

Yeah, _oh._  

 

Liam ends up going out and buying himself a red velvet cupcake too because they can’t do it on command apparently and he didn’t feel a single bite, but he stops being dramatic, so there’s that.

 

***

 

Liam explains history facts to a bunch of distracted tourists in a museum like there’s nothing else he’d rather do or anywhere else he’d rather be and Theo looks at him and he wonders if all those Japanese men and women with their cameras hanging from their necks can see what he’s seeing right now. If they realize that there’s nothing else in the world besides the way Liam’s eyes light up as his voice thrills with excitement.

Teachers and children move past him in every direction talking loudly and pointing at things and Theo wants to draw everyone’s attention and show them how beautiful Liam is as he speaks of what he loves, but all he can do is stare with his arms inert at his sides and a mesmerized look on his face.

Maybe that was it, Theo is not sure. He can’t point out the exact moment when it happened.

Maybe someone else can, probably Lydia. He remembers when she just sat next to him one day and asked him “ _When are you going to tell him?”._ She didn’t say his name and she didn’t specify what he was supposed to tell Liam, but they both knew anyway. Theo just shrugged and they sat there without talking for quite a while, until Kira was sitting there too. It was the first time they saw each other and they didn’t talk at all, but she rested her head on his shoulder and Theo knew all about her and he cared about her just like he always cared for all of them, even the ones he hadn’t met yet.   

There’s a very concrete chance that they all knew before Theo and they certainly knew before Liam. Mason smiled brightly at him all the way to America, endless hours of flying over countries and oceans just smiling knowingly at him. Brett called him a pussy and stopped him from turning back just before knocking on Liam’s door. They all knew and Theo can’t even point out the moment it happened.

Maybe it was when Tara was drowning in front of his eyes for the umpteenth time and Liam woke him up. He was very rude about it, but he let Theo sleep next to him in his bed and even follow him around in his weird dream about an alien invasion where he was the hero and the laws of physic weren’t a thing. He kept all the spotlight for himself, he didn’t let Theo do anything or kill any monster, but he accepted his silent presence, he didn’t throw him out of his dream and Theo’s body actually rested as he watched Liam do his thing for the rest of the night. He sneaked into Liam’s bed and dreams a lot after that and Liam never commented on it. He even asked him for help with his plan of robbing a bank once. They got caught and Liam was very bitter that Theo’s alarm woke him up too soon, leaving Liam to break out of jail alone.

Maybe it was when Liam was shouting angrily in Greenberg’s face and Theo stretched his arm and touched Liam for the first time, gently closing his fingers around his forearm like he’d do with a butterfly. It wasn’t even possible and there was an ocean across them, but time stopped and Theo never felt so close to someone before.

And of course there was that night at the bridge, when Theo didn’t cry but saw his own tears on Liam’s face. When Theo didn’t cry but Liam did and it was such a release.

But then again he feels like it already happened at that point and that was the only reason Liam was even able to find him in the woods.

It can’t be when Liam appeared on his seat on the London Eye and stayed right there until the end of the ride, because the only reason Theo got on it alone in the first place was so Liam could come and he could show him his city and talk with him aloud. There’s no way it didn’t happen already at that point.

Truth is, it probably was a lot sooner, when Liam popped out in his couch next to him and burst out laughing for some joke on Adventure Time that wasn’t even that funny. Theo remembers looking at Liam laughing more than the screen, unable to move his eyes or focus on anything else than the pretty sound of his laugh. Maybe that was when he fell in love, he’s not sure, but he can’t really remember a moment after that when he wasn’t in love with him.

 

 

“It’s kinda pretty.” Liam concedes reluctantly as the ferris wheel moves slowly and his eyes space from the Big Ben to the Thames dark waters and then back to Buckingham Palace and all the profiles of the cathedrals under the night sky of London.

“It’s beautiful” Theo replies proud and Liam doesn’t argue with that, he just keeps looking around as if he’s trying to take in all he can. That’s when Theo decides he wants to show him everything up-close, for real this time. He wants Liam to actually be there with him in his city, he wants to hold his hand and feel the warmth of his body against his, he wants people to stop looking funny at him as he talks to the man he loves because they can’t see him. He wants everyone to see Liam. But mostly, he just wants to kiss him.

 

 

He books his ticket for California that same night as soon as he comes home.

 

***

 

Theo stares at the door for ten minutes without being able to bring himself to move a finger. When he hears Liam’s voice from inside, he almost turns back overwhelmed, but Brett is right: he’s been in love with Liam for too long now. It’s time to actually meet him.

 

***

 

Liam is real and he opens the door barefoot with his large Gryffindor t-shirt on, the one Theo saw him wearing so many times before, a pout on his lips as he complains about the delivery man being late. Liam is real and his Gryffindor t-shirt is real, his shitty flat at the last floor in a building with no elevator is real and he’s been real all this time, Theo knew that already, hell, Liam is probably been the realest thing in his life in the past year, but still, he never was as real as now, flesh and bones and blood as he opens the door and Theo’s breath gets stuck in his throat, causing him to delay his sarcastic remark just a little bit. _Do I look like a pizza man to you?_

“Someone rang my bell and ran, it must be the evil child from the third floor again” Liam mutters as he steps forward to glance around the aisle. Theo wants to step back because Liam is so close to touch him now and he doesn’t even know, but his legs are frozen on the spot. They spent so much time together, tasting the same flavours and listening to the same music, sleeping in the same bed and sharing the same dreams night after night, and yet they’ve never been so close as they are now. “Fucking children, what do we even need them for I wonder. Are you wearing perfume?” Liam suddenly curls his nose confused, smelling the air, and just then Theo starts to feel real as well.

Liam is right in front of him and not only he exists, Theo exists too now. All he has to do is stretch his hand and he’ll be able to touch him.

“I have a date.” Theo says when he’s finally able to speak again. He manages to sound casual somehow, even if he feels like fainting just because of the way Liam’s face instantly darkens. He watches him having a silent jealousy crisis and trying to visit him as he did so many other times, surely ready to start pointing out all the flaws in Theo’s date, except he can’t. Not this time.

“I can’t visit you.” He frowns perplexed and Theo bites his lip, his heart beating fast in his chest. It’s been almost a year since it all started and there are just a few feet between them now.

“That might be because I took an eleven hours flight and I’m standing right in front of you” He says, his voice shaking as he feels Liam’s heart, _his_ heart, missing a beat _._ “You can’t visit me because I flew all the way from another continent just to do this.” Liam still looks shocked when Theo grabs a handful of his shirt and pulls him to his face, impatient, crashing their mouths together as if it was the only way to get oxygen again. It kinda is.

 

“So” Theo takes a deep breath, his head spinning around like he just took five shots of tequila and his heart too full for his own good. He wonders If the happy tears in his eyes are his or Liam’s. “About that date.”

Liam smiles like they only do in movies and you know what, forgot everything, _that’s_ when it happens. The first time Theo sees his smile and that’s when he falls in love.

 

(Liam said yes by the way.)

 

Two years later he says yes again and he pulls Theo back to his feet kissing him so hard he drops the ring.

 

***

 

“How did you two meet?”

Liam grins widely and Theo shakes his head, chuckling fondly at how happy his husband is that even at their wedding there’s still someone asking that question. It’s fortunate though, because it’s Liam’s favorite.

“It all started when he broke into my kitchen…”

 

 

 

 


End file.
